Señora's dance has no title...

Misc: Phedré a Go Go

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:01:08 GMT

Despite the world's best efforts, I am not in fact dead. Not only that, but my copious amount of time alone at the moment warrants me spending all my time making stuff again.

On a random note, I'd love to have a story/book called "If Only". I just like the sound, look, and interpretations of those two words together.

Anyhoodle, I'm off to finally see "Coraline" ... in friggin' 3-D!

MIster Cole, Mister Scoons, Mister Fetch, Mister Milligan...

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:27:53 GMT

Not my usual thing, but the Doctor Who Christmas special actually prompted me to do some fanart, due to the unabashed awesomeness that is Miss Hartigan. Particularly the saucy awesomeness that was her graveyard rendevous with the aforementioned gentlemen.

You shouldn't abuse women. Because they grown up, ally themselves with alien invaders, pilot giant robots to stomp on your city, and shoot ray beams out of their heads.

Among other things.

Cons: Posted here instead of DA or such because something about it is just ... off. The values are a little low, which is kind of what I was going for with the even, gray snow day light, but when I did try to make values in the red area darker, the board was just too saturated. Also, making the repeating cyberman shape be a graphic element just came out really flat and meh. Alsoalso, the face I did in the sketch was satisfying, but this one... I guess I put the value down wrong. Also, the gray skin with the red looks weird.

Pros: I learned so many tricks for using Prismas on this, OMG. I earned a doctorate in Makeitupasyougoalongology on this one.

I did not, in fact, try to coordinate my icon with my fanart, but there you have it.

In other news, I have about ten new kinds of tea to try. I'm irrationally excited by this.

New Year's Lockdown Diet Flavor

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:53:33 GMT

Man, have I lost my knack for ceremony. I've un-privatized the old list, edited it for appropriate disappointment and triumph, and racked up some new wishes here (along with some of the old ones...*cough*)

Computer/Workflow

Basically, the reason no one's heard from me, either in my Domic or otherwise, is due to a really vicious virus cutting the legs out from under Tycho, my stalwart and true steed of a Vaio that's served me well for five years. And, since the bloody hands holding the pike that did it is Microsoft's own weak-ass definition of security, I'm switching to a Mac. Yep. That's it, I'm done, I was willing to defend you, but between Service Pack Two of Doom and THIS nonsense, Microsoft and I have reached an uneasy separation that could devolve into fisticuffs if my Frankenstein of Tychoparts jerry-rigged into the machine that'll get me through the period it takes to save up for a new system suffers the same fate.

Also, the whole system I work in is a mess. The shelves, the nonexistent drafting space, the whole shebang. I've talked with Jabbers, and whole lotta new everything is in order. And lots of cleaning. Oh, Lord, the cleaning.

Projects
-Ordinary
My baby. My precious. I miss you. I'm 32 pages behind on you, according to the botched resolution from last year. I have two pages waiting for a bit more color before I can update again, and then it's a long, uphill year of getting the backlog established, and streamlining the concept art and website for the whole ordeal.

-After One
Been thinking about it more, and made some changes that really worked. When I had to turn from "Ordinary" out of self preservation, A1 was there to soothe me with it's more mature characters and dark religious theme.

-Sage's'Word
Found the original chapters I did when I was.... oh, 16. Out of all my stories, it's the one that just nestles nicely into being prose. No big splashy visuals, no comic format, nary a color schematic to be seen. I'd like to get a novel out, but first, I have to run it through the No Longer Sixteen filter

-Short stories
Getting back in the prose game.

-Kelequon***
Big wishlist piece, since this might be one goal too many (the big death knell for last year's list), but this story is just plain old fun. I get bogged down with Deeper Meaning sometimes, and it's got a great action oriented bend to it that's good for the ol' drawrin' hands.

Personal
Oi. Just... Oi. I've got a hell of a lot of good fortune saving me from a helluva lot of bad fortune that preceded it prior, but now it's time to clean up the mess the latter left me. It's all just money stuff, the usual debt to savings road leading to a gigundous detour towards a new computer ~~and the CS4~~ (haHAAAA, found my CS install discs! booyah!).

That's actually mixed into the category of doing healthy, goodhuman things like reading books more and actually, you know... talking to my friends and family. I'm downright awful at it. Before, it was a defense mechanism, to avoid having to talk about how my life was either feeling dismal, or in such a rut that the question "So, what's new?" would result in a cringe and perhaps a surreptitious punch at a wall. I want to talk to you people, I do. Don't let me weasel out of it.

Also, I'd like a passport and (even more wishlisty) to re/learn a language. The pro of learning Spanish is that it's really becoming another part of American life, and I could definitely use it. The plus side of learning German is that I get a bit of my childhood back, and I could share it with my father, who'd mentioned recently that he's sad his got so rusty (which he mentioned in a phone call. In which I talked to him. SEE I'M GETTING BETTER!)

Health
Okay, this is a crazy one. I actually wasn't planning on cutting back or quitting soda, but on a lark I went to some kitchen conversion sites and discovered the amount of sugar in a can of soda...?

It fills a shot glass. An entire shot glass. Of pure sugar. In my mouth.

I haven't had any for almost a week. Just the idea of horking that back is... not pleasant to me. I won't really cut it out of my life, I guess, but my enthusiasm has certainly waned. If I do, it'll be something like Jones, or a foreign soda. Something with actual sugar. As scary as The Sugar Shot was, Corn Syrup and Aspartame just make me feel worse.

After that, it's just getting back in shape for fencing in March. The rest of the art department where I work is signing up for a studio literally right around the corner from our office, and I've been looking for somewhere to fence for ages. So it's stretching and arm weights (jogging just sets my tachycardia off) until then.

THEN. It's a trip to the dentist. A physical is on the wishlist, but the dentist is... well, I guess I should put that up in financial as well because... ooouugh. The less said about that, the better.

The big thing this year for me will probably be conventions. Due to gaining an undying love for Kidrobot, Jabbers would be more keen to come to SDCC with me, but I was also looking for a smaller, more creator-oriented con like Heroescon in NC. I've gotten a few invited to NYCC too, but all that was before the news of the computer and it's inherent demise.

I'd be more sentimental, and such, but since Tycho's condition worsened, I'm doing posting and arting at the office off the clock, and it's nearing ten or so now.

Time to kick this year in the ass, I say.

Adventures in Advertising Pt. Whatever.

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:29:10 GMT

Or, Since I'm Going To Hell Already, I Might As Well.

Namely, we're covering this little number:

According to the cover, this is little Rebecca's copy.

I found it on the shelf at work, cartridge intact, bargain bin price tag and all. Now, if you do a wee little google search, you can find lots of info, videos of gameplay, and even play it yourself.

However, I haven't seen any place that displayed the nuggets of joy and wisdom to be found in...

Yeah. Hunker down, you're in for some magic. As covered in the back of the box...

You see that there are three levels. You play as the three wise men, careening headlong through the desert to try and give the world's favorite baby some gifts that don't light up or play sounds when you press a button. Another level covers the flight to egypt, fleeing King Herod, and traversing the "tricky ice cliffs" that are known to be all over the nation of Israel. The final game is a riveting tale where you are looking for a twelve year old Jesus that has been left behind after a rollicking day at the Passover Feast. You know how sometimes parents admit to leaving their kids at the mall, or a grocery store, and have to turn back. Well Mary and Joseph apparently came back from the long journey from said feast only to realize they left their good son Jesus behind.

It takes them three days to find them.

Just sayin'.

And here's the kinds of cartoon people that are known to do that, according to the artists on staff at "King of Kings"

It looks like watercolor, and it looks like it's having issues. I say this with the meaness of a regular freshman year art school Heidi, infused with about... 1 1/2 White Russians. Ivan Bilibin this artist ain't. The cover at least appears to be gouache, which is a bitch an a half, and only those truly devoted to the medium (i.e - Romance novel cover artists) can master it. Watercolor, on the other hand.... I will say without reserve that if I can watercolor better than you, you fail at life. Hard.

That is, however, one hot donkey they've got going on.

Despite hints of hot potential yiff, I think probably the greatest moments of gold for me come from the nitty gritty listings of basic things like weapons and enemies. In a pretty hardcore Christian game, these things get kind of... a different tone than most games. Granted this came from a halcyon era when disclaimer asterisks came in BRIGHT MAGENTA and whatever the asterisk was referencing was front and center on the product in question. Games like that inspired by the "Left Behind" series had no problem at all with acing a few nonbelievers with a bazooka if need be. However, the innocence of this game requires the main weapon to be... water balls.

Water Balls.

And when Water Balls don't suffice, well buckle down, jimmy-son, because that's when you start hauling in the big guns.

That's right. FRUIT.

On your grand quest for gifts for Jeebus, you have to sacrifice your scruples enough to start. throwing. fruit.

Because when you live in a desolate wasteland, throwing water and food at things is a surefire way to get others to stay away from you.

And, in case you missed it:

....

........?

Yeah.

But, oh, what on earth kind of enemies could Jesus and his followers have?

Apparently? Everything and Everyone is out to stop you. While not particularly illustrated with aplomb or given much detail, I think the list of enemy creatures is pretty telling of a conservative mindset.

For one thing, DUCKS are featured on more than one of the three levels, as one level can not contain the sheer malice they exhibit towards the name and mission of our Lord and Saviour. Their chief attack is... quacking. And walking towards you.

Skunk - "P.U! Stay away from this stinker!" - I thought these were indigenous to the Americas, but, oh well. This was shortly after Noah's Ark, so I'm sure some were taking their sweet time getting there.

Polar Bear - ... okay, the manual tells you to jump, because kicking doesn't do anything against a polar bear. This is a valid point, only brought into question by the longtime internet assertion of OMGWTFPOLARBEAR.

Fish - Apparently, these will flip and splash and scare your donkey. A somewhat valid concern. Unlike the two greatest enemies Jesus has yet to face...

Pilgrims - "So happy to see you, she might jump a lot" - Okay, so one of the key things for Jesus to avoid is... fangirls? Also amusing: the assertion that all said psychotic pilgrims are all female.

And of course...

RABBIS - "He wants to talk, but you must hurry"

...

That's right.

Small children playing this game are instructed to avoid Rabbis at all costs.

He just wants to talk... but that's their secret power, RUN!!!

Is that not enough action packed Jesus action for you? Well, clearly, you weren't paying attention up top, because there's one key thing on the front of the box that the folks at Wisdom Tree want you to know: This is only Jesus, THE EARLY YEARS.

That's right, even though he's getting by with a little help from his friend, he still hadn't gotten the eye of that raven haired Wendy, yet.

That noted, you can either focus on the later chapters of this thrilling tale of post-natal gift giving and child neglect, or you can focus on getting your ass home safely in this winter weather, back from family to whence you came.

If not...

May flights of orthopedically shod gleeful businessmen sing thee to thy rest.

Disclaimer: This either states a great deal of good or a great deal of ill in the world, but whether my material came from The Bible or from Skymall, I didn't make a damn thing in this post up.

And that's why life is beautiful.

And fucked up.

But mostly beautiful.

The GIFs! The GIFs! The GIFs are on FIRE!

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:44:20 GMT

Oh, Dubya. Just..... Just leave already.

(Probably my favorite)

My reaction to the whole affair?

Okay, I'm done with the GIFs.

...

Because there's a flash game, too.

Midnight Radio: Kanye, What the Crap?

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:34:33 GMT

What?

What? It's a fun song, and I tried to tag along for the empty apartment/tribal army motif, but then you lost me on the space ship.

And since all I get from your video for "Heartless" is that you had a lover's spat with Judy Jetson, I officially ... kinda sorta ...don't get you.

Akira notwithstanding. It's fun when you find out random famous people are huge geeks.

Pg 56 meme

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:26:34 GMT

* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions on your LJ.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

A portion of the page from the bigantic "Comic Book Tattoo", a collection of wildly different artists making comics inspired by Tori Amos songs. In keeping with the meme, the fifth line from this illustration's song is "girls when they fall".

I'm a dork. A big old dorky dork. Dorky Dork and the Funky Bunch.

Let's see how badass I can be in the making of the comics today, shall we? Two pages for this weekend are starting..... now!

Ordinary.

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:31:48 GMT

What in buggeredy hell is this nonsense?

Actually, I've been updating the past five weeks. I've been so ashamed of how much I missed I kind of kept to myself (in a lot of ways. Sorry Mike, Tom, and Mai! D:)

Just in case you're just tuning in, here's some shortcuts.

Start reading from the beginning.

Start reading from the last time I went AWOL.

But yes, it's coming along, and the only reason I'm not coloring the next update is that there's job related shenanigans to delightfully try, as well as thumbnails for the next set of pages and a few other things I'd really love to have done by December.

Alsoalso, I finally got off my keister and made a profile page, for the rest of internet that I've met and have yet to meet. I was unaware of this, but typifying myself as a "ladlass" was a cause for some folks to not say "hello". Damn shame, that.

Ordinary: WALL•E•WEEN

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:31:21 GMT

Dirty Cheaters.

SoL: Embarassing Confession #5,009,823,265

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:27:23 GMT

And no, I have no idea why.

On the plus side, my hair actually looks like that. Color me tickled.

Midnight Radio: DANCEKILL

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 07:08:30 GMT

Yep. Up late.

Drawring and whatnot.

Still alive. Be with you in a bit.

In Which Heidi Fails Slightly Less Than Usual

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 08:42:13 GMT

Back on the wagon, so to speak, after a strange and magical period of confusion, scrambling, lackluster artistic skill level, and (admittedly willful) unemployment. Also, I've grown addicted to ONTD_Political, which has resulted in me being A)Much more informed about the world around be, B)Much more pissy about said world... but with a reason now! C)Acquiring partisan T-shirts, and D)Developing girlcrushes on Rachel Maddow and Ségolène Royal (and Yulia Tymoshenko, though she's more in the vein of "D'awwwdorable")

-Paint sketches have continued, bringing the total up to five, and learning so much every time.

-Ordinary is back with a page, and while I wasn't going to say anything, the fact that being away for TWENTY FOUR weeks and actually managing at least a modicum of coloring mojo back has encouraged me enough to pipe up. I forgot how much of my subconscious happiness revolved around updating this thing on time.

Also, according to some meme I found tucked in straya's journal, I have to quote something from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". I only saw probably the first disc of season one, but here goes.

Monster: RAAAAR!
Buffy: OW!

I love watching action oriented shows with closed captioning.

My Life's Mission Before Me

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:59:20 GMT

There's something about the meaning of life for me in Donny Osmond right there.

No, I'm being serious. Rather, I am serious, while trying not to be.

*sigh* Okay. In high school, in what was an astounding effort on the part of my 15 year old self to join in any kind of group activity, I actually tried out for a play. I basically picked up a script, wandered onstage, and dry read (horribly) a minor character. It was particularly hilarious because I was playing it straight, when I realized halfway through that the character was supposed to be crying uncontrollably. In two words: Epic Fail. However, there came along a student who wanted to audition, but no one would read the lead female character with him. With a shrug, I volunteered. I'd already had my shot, with unintentionally hilarious results, so another cold read in front of the school director's desk wouldn't kill me on my way out the door.

Thus I got the lead female part.

I know high school stories are silly to muse over, and I really don't remember much of that time of my life at all. I was a dour, sexless tomboy; as average as they come. In the measure of both sentences I still very much am to a degree. Yet time and again, people look at me and see something very, very different.

Basically, if there's a point at all to musing on this is that the world in general has assumed a great deal more of me than I've been prepared to contend with. Everyone always seems to want to be the hero, but when I look at a screen or a page with the tableau of characters before me, I gravitate to the sidekick. Even my own boyfriend, enamored of the heroines in his Ayn Rand novels, makes lofty comparisons. We've honestly had discussions (the closest we get to actual "fights") where I literally ask him when he's going to catch on and realize that I'm really nothing like that.

I miss being with my roomate, Maianne. A lot. She and I had fun. In terms of bouncing off each other, she was the mystically capable, prepared, and intelligent figure of the household, whereas my continued residence in that house seemed to hinge more on my ability to lip synch and pantomime to the occasional power ballad with gusto than the actual payment of rent.

This is also why I am delighted that Tom, perhaps the only person in my life to have witnessed said high school events, is now actually living in this city now. He has no illusions, about me or about much of anything else for that matter. While Mai and I were George Milton and Lennie Small, respectively, Tom and I are more Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Or maybe Brian and Stewie. A nightmare behind the wheel of a car either way.

It's pretty easy to guess where it comes from. I'm not the nicest person ever, bordering on downright snarky on occasion. And then there's the pathos, OH the supposed, undeserved pathos. No, people, it's not called being dark and mysterious. It's called being whiny, and a lot of it. The thing with sidekicks that's so great is that they don't have to change throughout the story, because they're happy with who they are, they've reached their full potential, and they're the source of comfort for both the hero and the viewer/reader, who has to put up with the hero's wailings and sniffles and righteousness. To put it in "Twilight" terms, why in blue bloody hell would you ever want to be Bella when you could be Alice?

Of course, another way of looking at the high school anecdote entirely is the notion that my first audition was laden with my thoughts of "Okay, time to ACT. What do actors do? I guess in order to act I have to be all actory and actor...ish" whereas the second audition was more of "Well, okay, I'll read this thing on my way out and WTHACHIEVEMENTBBQ?!". Essentially, when I just chill the hell out and do something I actually do quite well. The best laid plans of mice. This would be supported by my pathological nebbishness in the face of that most artistic of banes, the Blank Paper Sheet of Doom. So overtaken am I with the pressure to make something great that I nitpick it into mediocrity or, more likely, nonexistence entirely.

So, while I am an inherently goofy person, my inclination is also to be very wound up, and a lot of the world awaits me if I just. chill. out.

Seriously.

Or rather, not seriously at all. Dammit. It's the one endeavor in my life that cannot be achieved by attacking it vehemently head on. It's improvement dictated by total inaction, or at least the lack of negative action that is usually postive in other circumstances.

Has it been covered that I think too much about things? That's another habit I want to get rid of.

BRB, off to go be the best goddamn backup dancer I can be.

Thank you Donny Osmond.

Found some new cover song blogs.

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:11:50 GMT

Yyyyyyyeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh...

I should prrrrrrrrrrrrobably donate to their bandwidth.

Ordinary: Why yes, I'm crass.

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:18:41 GMT

It's nice to actually, y'know, see progress once in awhile.

If not progress, then at least some great tits.

A Bad Breakup, perhaps?

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:51:05 GMT

Found this in the trash of an alley one day.

Well then. Tell us how you really feel.

Misc: New Character

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:13:13 GMT

Lady Æmmeline, who showed up right when I needed her so I could join in on fun submissions to things. She was one of those characters who went down quickly, and I knew exactly who she was.

She was bossy, too. I tried drawing her twice in Painter, but she seemed to insist I whip out paper and marker for her. Just because.

Slice of Life: When Boink Met Thud.

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 19:41:33 GMT

True facts.

Midnight Radio II

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:50:41 GMT

Queen. Live Aid. Wembley

Of course, the whole thing's worth watching.

Freddie Mercury Tribute concert: Elton John and Axl Rose. Together.

Okay, does anyone ELSE think performing "Too Much Love Will Kill You" at an Aids Awareness concert is kind of twisted? Unfortunately coincidental?

...Funny?

No? Just me?

Goddammit.

Plotting and Scheming

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:46:07 GMT

Writing.

Drawing.

Oh yes.

W-wait, I have to do WHAT with the stylus?

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:32:23 GMT

So, the Nintendo DS system controls are a bit of a revolution in the world of Japanese romance games. Take this little number designed for girls, called "DUEL LOVE", in which a slew of lean young men duke it out Fight Club style for your character's affections.

What's that? I don't get to play any of the fighting? Awwww. Shucks. Well, how do I play the game, then?

.... I get to massage and wipe the sweat off the male characters' bodies after they're done with a fight, you say?

P.S.- I can't promise how awkward the sound effects will or will not get. After the first quartet of moans I was sent fleeing for my mute button. D:

And all before 10 A.M.

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:23:28 GMT

In yet another dazzling effort to try and be a teensy bit more positive, I took the money I whittled out of my budget and -instead of chucking it at a big business shilling out paperback promises- chucked it over to some folks who actually need it and know how to use it. For while it is silly the kind of crap that people read some days, it's even sillier to get annoyed about that when there's plenty of folks that can barely read at all.

Also silly is the fact that, upon clicking "send", I realized I probably have a great deal of debt to pay to the public library system in the form of late fines.

And then I painted some studies of satin.

That's right. Satin.

I'm a girl on the edge I tell you!

ETA:
Because WIPs amuse and thrill me.

Hey. Hey guys.

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:27:58 GMT

Seriously.

I'm just a shred of sanity away from going out and buying every possible good book I have ever read or heard of, and then going out the night the new Twilight book comes out and stand in front of Barnes & Noble with my pile 'o' books and say to everyone in costume, or anyone walking out with that bound chunk of nonsense:

"Hey! You could be reading something amazing right now. You could be reading something that expands your perception of the world, teaches you something new, or inspires you to go out and experience, create, and really LIVE.

But no. You're going off to read that.

So here I stand, offering you a chance to get a book like that for free. We can even sit here and chat for awhile, and find something you'll like together, and I will hand it over to you free of charge.

You can go ahead and walk away with the book you just bought in one hand, and the book I just gave you in the other. I don't care which you read first.

But I can guaren-fucking-tee you I know which book you'll remember."

I seriously have no money to be doing this, nor do I have the time, but you know what? I. Don't. Care.

I know that it seems like I could be psuedo-picketing for some larger cause, but I'll bet a lot of the world's (and our younger generation's) problems, could be solved by making sure we aren't reading stupid shit.

And I am only writing this because I just turned around from walking 3/4 of the way to the nearest bookstore to do just that, thinking that an LJ post would stop me.

It isn't.

Midnight Radio

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:03:13 GMT

I've been surreptitiously doing the "choreography" all weekend, not to mention the key moments my head decided to cue up the music internally at times when it was wholly inappropriate to giggle (like when the bride hit the altar).

Misc: Doctor Horrible

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:45:58 GMT

A little in love with Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog at the moment.

Just in case any of you harbored the notion that I had anything resembling taste.

BRB, singing angrily against walls.

Edited to add after the third installment: ...dammit Joss. It was a paper thin superhero love story musical. You can let it stay that way, y'know. We know you were the unloved nerd growing up. We know that. You never got the girl. We got it. Thanks. You can stop taking it out on your audiences now.